Will the Democratic Party please stand up!

Republicans know how to win elections. They play off your fears and prejudices and get you to vote. They know that while defense can keep you from losing a game, it is offense that wins it. They play to win, we play not to lose, and it has cost us. As long as we keep trying to get to the middle of the road, the Republicans are going to keep running over us. They aren’t trying to sway Democratic voters, they’re playing to their people. We should do the same.

Gore should have won Nader’s people, Kerry should have won big with female voters. They both have voting records that play to these groups, yet during the campaign they tried not to lose. They tried to seem more pro-life than pro-choice. Less environmental more “things are just fine”. We need to take a stand, because they do.

Things I know Republicans stand against.

Gay marriage
Environmental regulation
Illegal immigrants
Abortion
Gun control

We’re so afraid of losing the votes of people who agree with Republicans that we’re losing our own voters. If Gore had played up his environmental creds more (and not distanced himself from Clinton), Nader wouldn’t have been an issue. If any candidate stood up and said they are the polar opposite of the current candidate they may have stood a better chance.

Examples by me:

On Gay Marriage: I support gay marriage and will fight any amendment or bill that seeks to marginalize our law-abiding, tax paying citizens.

On Environmental Regulations: Global warming and the greenhouse effect are real. No legitimate scientist thinks otherwise. Continued denial of the effects we are having on this planet only puts us and our children at peril.

On Abortion: I hope for the day when there are almost no abortions performed. But not because we outlawed it. When we improve sex education, the numbers of abortions will go down. When we make better birth control and easier access to it, the numbers will go down. When we live in a society that does not put ALL of the burden on the woman, and none of it on the man, the numbers will go down. I cannot in good conscience tell a woman with little money and no health insurance that she must endure the physical, psychological and financial burdens that come with bringing a child into this world. It’s one thing to say a woman can’t have an abortion, it’s another entirely to say you will pay all her medical expenses and stay with her for the next 18 years to ensure they are provided for.

I know those views seem extreme, but that’s because all we have are far right and middle. On gay marriage all we heard was “NO” and “maybe civil unions” which still sounds like you don’t really like it. On the environment: “Global warming is not real” and “there’s some debate but most agree”. And finally on abortion: “HELL, NO!” and “only in the case of…” But if you stood up and said the things I wrote up there you would win the Gay and Lesbian vote, the Environmental vote and a good portion of the women’s vote. Add speaking Spanish and not sounding like a Gringo and you’d have an election landslide.
j.r.

Bush's immigration speech

George Bush unveiled his 5 point plan for dealing with immigration. Now I have many feelings about his 5 point plan, but the one the American people should really focus on is: How much is this going to cost?

1. Strengthen our Borders – the cost for this point alone must be astronomical. He wants to hire 6,000 more employees. If you paid them minimum wage that would still be over 60 million a year (tax payer dollars), for every dollar over minimum add another 12 million a year. Not to mention the cost for these infrared cameras, motion sensors, the cost of building fences, and roads. Then add the additional cost of sending everyone back, not just to Mexico, which would be cheap, but if someone comes from Cuba or Chile or China we’re (the taxpayers) going to have to pay to send them back there. For this proposal alone the cost goes over a billion dollars.

2. Temporary worker program - It’s one thing to say we need new Ids for all workers. Easy to say that we want to set up a system for workers and employers to get together, but who’s paying for it. A new office or upgrades to the currently existing INS offices is going to be required. More employees will most likely need to be hired. A new government agency will have to be set up to help immigrants who wish to work legally here in the U.S. find employers who want to hire them. Essentially a Federal temp agency. And we’ll be paying for it.

3. Employer accountability – In order to hold employers accountable for hiring illegal workers, you need people to investigate the claims. Once again hiring more people or tasking already over tasked law enforcement with that duty. At least this one could possibly pay for itself with the fines we could levy on employers who violate the law. But it would still probably only break even.

4. Illegals here could earn citizenship – Once again, without increasing the number of people in the federal government, nothing is going to change for those illegals who have been here for years. If those who are going the legal route get to go first in line (and that already takes a long time), then I don’t see those who have been living here for 20-30 years illegally trying to become legal citizens when they would have to wait even longer, work even harder and pay a penalty. THEY’RE POOR YOU MORON! If they had money they would enter the U.S. legally!

5. Which I could only understand as NO HABLO ESPANOL! I didn’t hear much on point five except that everyone must try to speak English. I agree with this one and I think GEORGE W. BUSH should be the first who has to pass an English test for citizenship. That would solve all our problems. Once he’s declared not a citizen then we can legally take the Presidency away from him. HOORAYY!!!

I believe we need strong borders. I believe we need to do something about our immigration problem. But this is just too expensive, and wouldn't really solve the problem. At a time when we have a tremendous deficit and owe money to foreign countries do we really want to get deeper in debt. And remember that as the number of Federal employees goes up so does our tax burden. Whatever happened to Republicans being for smaller government. To co-opt the phrase most often used in local elections: "This plan costs to much, does too little."

- j.r.

Tom Cruise

I won’t write much about Hollywood. What angers me enough yell at the television rarely has anything to do with how Britney is treating her baby. Seriously people, there are children in this country who have no health care, are starving, and if they are lucky enough to make it to school age, may go to schools that are falling apart, with substandard books, teachers and which will most likely close leaving them unable to go to school at all thanks to Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. So I could give two of nothing about Britney’s baby.

Tom Cruise on the other hand intrigued me. His movie M:I:III opens today. Recently he’s been under attack for a lot of the “crazy” statements he’s made. His attack on Brooke Shields and his baby birthing rules were much in the news. And as crazy and the things Tom said were, he only makes movies not laws. Bill Frist on the other hand supports sex education (abstinence) that says you can get AIDS from tears and sweat. Rick Santorum compared Homosexuality to beastiality and pedophilia. These are the people who make the laws we must live by. Why did I see more airplay about Tom claiming he knew psychiatry was BS, than Frist claiming he knew Teri wasn’t in a vegetative state…because he watched video of her. Tom Cruise may convert some people to scientology, maybe not, but I consider him harmless compared to senators and congressmen with irrational beliefs. It isn’t Tom Cruise who’s going to limit women’s access to birth control, or ban gay marriage or lead us into a war with questionable intelligence against a country that didn’t attack us. It’s going to be those other people I mentioned. So let Tom talk crazy and if he runs for office vote against him. And while you’re at it see if you can vote out of office the people who still believe that the WMDs exist.

-j.r.

a little about me and my blog

I’d like to introduce myself. I’m an Austin Liberal Democrat. I have the life I always hoped for when I was young. I have a car, a nice apartment, digital cable, enough money to feed my addiction (books), a beautiful girlfriend, beautiful girls as friends, and a job that satisfies and challenges me, but which I can leave at work when I go home. What more could a person want?

How about a President who is smarter than me? How about Universal Health Care? How about a country that realizes that two people, any two people, getting married has no effect on you whatsoever?

My annoyance at people who agree with me, but don’t vote, knows no bounds. Yet, how much different am I? Yes, I vote. Yes, I give money to the ACLU and the democratic party, but what am I really doing to try and change things. I discuss issues with anyone who disagrees with me and try to make them change their mind. It’s a start. This I hope will be the next step.

I am adding my voice, or text at least, to the thousands of others who want to try to get this country back on course. Not getting it back to some mythical glory days that never existed, but to a future where equality is real, tolerance is practiced, and freedom is more than just a word.

That’s what I humbly hope to accomplish with my blog.

Oh, and I’d like to get that bastard impeached.

-j.r.